We have a problem, and everybody knows it. Our representatives in Congress don't work for us. They are not just unresponsive to will of the voters, they flat out ignore the voters most of the time.
Take the issue of border security. A recent Fox News poll showed that 71% of voters believe that border security is not strict enough. This is up from a low of 60% in 2013, but down from a high of 76% in 2010. Despite the a consistent majority in favor of stricter border security, under Joe Biden the invasion of illegal aliens crossing the southern border from Mexico is setting records. On Monday, December 21st, there were 14,509 encounters at the southern border by federal law enforcement. It's a new single-day record. Meanwhile the crisis continues with no end in sight. If anything, it's getting worse.
It's just one example, a big one, but it begs the question. What can we do to make our government pay more attention to the voters? We get the occasional lip service about campaign finance reform and keeping the money out of politics, but it amounts to Congress defining who may legally bribe whom in the legislation that attempts to discourage contributions from the other party's base of support. It's a game the voters are not really a part of. Can we realistically expect those on the receiving end of all the money to enact effective reform? Besides, campaign finance is only part of our problem.
Key point: Our representatives in Congress work for the people who pay them. What we the taxpayers pay them isn't even chump change compared to what the special interests are willing to pay. A newly elected Senator will receive an annual salary of $174,000 per year from the taxpayers. Consider the 2022 Georgia Senate race between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. The total spent on campaign advertising in that race alone was $338.5 million. So, who gets the Senators' attention? Imagine a constituency willing to spend upwards of $150 million to get their man into the Senate. And now try to imagine that they expect nothing in return.
Yes, there are honest and patriotic representatives, but even the best of them cannot escape the economic reality that they need campaign contributions to stay in office, and campaign contributions always come with at least some expectations. But it goes well beyond campaign contributions. Here is Matt Gaetz in a @Timcast interview describing what awaits the incoming freshmen congressmen and congresswomen at Freshman Orientation.
"I think the most corrupt foray into this is Freshman Orientation."
8\ @Lukewearechange asked the question many people want to know, the answer isn’t but is what you’d expect
— TrashDiscourse (@TrashDiscourse) October 4, 2023
Another uncomfortable truth about what it’s like as a Freshman to come into DC and how lobby tries to instantly capture you, if that doesn’t work it progresses to attacks. pic.twitter.com/5XHe7Do1VA"If you're part of the prevailing way of thinking, the national security state, the neoconservative world view, There's an entire infrastructure there to, like, build out your career. There are endowed professorships, there are think tanks that are ready to give you 6-figure jobs, there is like a career progression of jobs on the Hill. But if you think differently, you're kind of hunted. You're hunted, cancelled, they do everything to compromise you, and if that doesn't work they try to destroy you."
9\ Matt goes into further detail about how if you just go along and get along, it will be a very easy road and smooth sailing as it can be. This is also very enticing as you think about it. So when you see fighters out there, consider these things.. pic.twitter.com/sifaaTMJBA
— TrashDiscourse (@TrashDiscourse) October 4, 2023
Think of it. An entire infrastructure in place to guide the careers of our representatives – so long as they're willing to go with the program.
And the infrastructure is there for others, not just Congressmen and Senators. There is the administrative state. The Department of Justice, the CIA, the FBI, and the IRS have all been enlisted in... what? The new world order?
Take James Comey. He was a U.S. Attorney in the Bush administration, rising to the position of acting attorney general when John Ashcroft was incapacitate. During that tenure he launched the investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA employee, Valerie Plame. Almost immediately after Comey appointed his purported pal Patrick Fitzgerald as special counsel, the the individual who leaked Valarie Plame's identity came forward. When Richard Armitage from the State Department admitted to the lead, Fitzgerald determined that his action was not a crime. The investigation went forward anyway, with no underlying crime, and finally ended with the conviction of the Vice President's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, for lying to the grand jury.
In 2005 Comey's career path took him from the DOJ to Lockheed Martin Corporation where served as general counsel, and then to the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. During that time he earned several million before returning to the DOJ as head of the FBI. It was there that Comey orchestrated the "exoneration" of Hillary Clinton for her blatant mishandling classified information in the email scandal, and the persecution of President Donald Trump for "colluding with Russia" to steal the 2016 presidential election.
The purchase of our government officials is not limited to just the ones who are elected.
There is a huge imbalance between what we taxpayers pay for our representation and what the special interests pay for their representation. The money from us taxpaying voters goes directly to our representatives in the form of salaries and perc's. The special interest money goes indirectly to our representatives by going to election campaigns. Or it may be delayed compensation in the form of post-congressional careers. But ultimately that money benefits the representatives one way or another.
Under the current scheme of things the taxpayers, voters, and citizens are under-represented. Congress and special interests team up to hide that fact as best they can. That's why government and corporate interests are hellbent on censorship. "Disinformation" and "misinformation" have to be suppressed so that voters won't get the "wrong" idea. When you think of the hundreds of millions spent on political campaigns, realize that its purpose is mostly to deceive and manipulate the voters. Lying while on the campaign trail is the normal, accepted practice. Censorship is an easy and final way to prevent the voters from finding it out just how badly they're being deceived.
Think of the voters as people not to be listened to, but people to be manipulated. Special interests provide the money and means to do it. It has gotten to the point where the DOJ, the intelligence agencies, the media, and high tech have united in a campaign to deny half of America, the Trump supporters, their voice in government.
We need major reform in three areas. Taxes, federal employment – including employment of elected officials, and election campaigns – including the way they're financed. In the coming days and weeks I'll have my suggestions of how we might approach each of them.
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